Composite metal axle.



E. C. LITCHFIELD. COMPOSITE 'IVIETAL AXLE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 19.1912 1,170,172. Patented Feb.1, 1916.

Fig.1.

ATTORNEYS UNITED srarns PATE T orrros.

EDGAR o. ,L'ITCI-IFIELD', or WATERLOO, IOWA.

COMPOSITE METAL AXLE.

Application filed October 19, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR C. LITOHFIELD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Waterloo, county of Blackhawk, State of Iowa, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Composite Metal Axles, anddeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, such as will enable others skilled, in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention has for its object to produce a strong, simple, durable andinexpensive axle for vehicles of various kinds where the duty is heavy.r

For heavy farm wagons, farm trucks or trucks for mounting engines, wellmachinery, concrete mixers or other apparatus where the axles have tocarry a great weight, the ordinary wooden axle is insufiicient andtherefore various methods havebeen tried for producing, at not too greata cost, a satisfactory axle to take the place of the wooden axle. Ofcourse axles may be forged, cast of steel or built up in various wayswhere the cost is not important, but axles for the service towhich Ihave referred, must be kept low in cost and must have the necessaryqualities to give efficient journal-bearing surfaces. For the body ofsuch an axle strong, tough, structural iron or steel may be used toadvantage, but this makes it necessary to solve the problem ofconnecting the journals or skein members. It is recognized that grayiron castings make very efficient journals and therefore it has beenattempted with more or less success to bolt or rivet gray iron journalmembers upon the body members of various sorts. This method ofconstructing an axle requires that the parts be carefully finished andfitted together in order to secure tight joints, and even with perfectworkmanship in the joints they will not remain tight because thevibration to which the axle is subjected is constantly affecting thejoints so as to wear and loosen them; therefore'axles made in this wayare comparatively expensive and have no durability.

I have discovered that by selecting a structural iron body member of aproper cross section and casting on the ends thereof properlyproportioned journal members, the defects incident to axles assembled inSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

Serial No. 726,653.

the way I have described are entirely over-. come andthe cost is reducedto a minimum. V1ewed in-one of its aspects, my invention may thereforebe regarded as having for'its object to produce a simple, inexpensive,strong and durable composite metal axle.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; butfor a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to thefollowing detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein z. 1 I VFigure 1 is'a side elevation of an axle constructed and arranged inaccordancewith a preferred form of my invention; Fig. 2 is a section onan enlarged scale on line AA of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of thearrows; Fig. 3 is a perspective view on about the same scale as Fig. 2of one of the skein members, the end of the body member which it engagesbeing omitted and portions of the attaching parts being broken away; andFig. 4: is a perspective view of the-body member of the axle on aboutthe same scale as Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents a piece of structural iron orsteel having on its ends journals or skeins, 2, the parts being soproportioned that the whole makes a complete axleJ Thebody may be madeof any desired cross section without departing from my invention asviewed in some ofits aspects. However, as will herein-after ap-, pear,the I-beam possesses distinct-advantages when it comes to adding thejournals at the ends of the body member and therefore, since the I-beamis a simple structural shape which can be obtained in quantities withuniformity "of strength, I toughness and other qualities, I consider theI-beam the best. form of structural steel or iron from which'to make thebody member.

In making the axlethe bodymember, having been cut to the proper length,is inserted at one end into a proper mold into which molten metal ispoured to form the journal and simultaneously unite it with the bodymember. I so shape the mold that from; the journal or skein memberproper there extend along the adjacent ends of the body-member integralblocks or check pieces, 3, which lie in and preferably fill the, chan:

nels in the sides of the I-beam. The molten metal is poured into themold directly at the end of the I-beam so that substantially all of thehot metal which goes to'make up the journal member flows exerts aheating influence on themetal of the I-beam, and a thorough fusing orwelding together of the two metals takes place. As the molten metalsolidifies and the casting sets, the blocks or cheek pieces, 3, tend tomove toward each other, and, because the flanges, l, of the I- beam arethinnest at the outer edges and become gradually thicker toward thecenter, perfect contact and union is maintained between the metal ofthebody member and of the journal member. When the axle is put into servicethe blocks or cheek pieces are supported from above and below by theflanges of the I-beam so that the cast metal parts are effectivelyreinforced by the tougher material of the I-beam. Since the blocks orcheek plates fit within the channels of the I-beam, there can be nodisplacement of the journal in a vertical direction, assuming the web ofthe I-beam to be vertical, this result being obtained without requiringthe casting to extend entirely around the end ofthe body member as wouldbe necessary in the case of a body member having no depressions,channels or reentrant angles at the sides; thus reducing the weight ofthe casting to a minimum and at the same time giving much greaterstrength than would be present in a construction wherein the downwardpull of gravity on the load carried by the axle is resisted solely bythe tensile strength of the gray iron or other metal of which thecasting might be made.

In order to insure a perfect union between the casting and the bodymember and increase the strength of the joint under stresses in thevertical direction, an opening, 5, may be drilled or punched through theweb, 6, of the I-beam near each end thereof; the result being that themolten metal which flows into the channels in the I-beam to form theblocks or cheek pieces, 3, continues through the opening so as to form acontinuous tie or connecting piece, 7, extending from one block or cheekpiece to the other and being integral with both blocks or cheek pieces.The contraction of the connecting piece, 7 in a lengthwise direction,serves to draw the blocks or cheek pieces into and hold them in intimatecontact with the sides of the body member; thus producing a joint whichoffers great resistance to vertical forces or stresses. This casting ofone member of the axle through the other I therefore regard of greatimportance and as the preferred form of my invention. As a furtherelaboration, the blocks or cheek pieces, the casting as a whole and theentire axle itself may be strengthened by the addition of a dependingtruss, 8', extending across beneath the bottom of the body member andhaving upwardly projecting arms, 9, which grow out from the side of theblocks or cheek pieces.

I have described in detail the completion of only one end of the axle,but it will of course be understood the other end will be completed inthe same way.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to thestructural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to coverall forms and arrangements which come within the terms employed in thedefinitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.Furthermore, since the body of the axle may be made either of wroughtiron or of steel, I desire to have it understood that where I use theterm steel I do not intend to exclude wrought iron, but to include it.

I claim:

1. In combination, a supporting member of steel having a web providedwith flanges, said web having an opening therethrough,

and a bearing member having two separated blocks cast on opposite sidesof the web and united by a part extending through said opening, at leastone of said blocks engaging with said flanges.

2. In combination, a supporting member having a recess in the sidethereof and an opening extending therethrough from the recess, and abearing member having integral blocks one of which lies in the recessand the other of which engages the opposite side of the supportingmember cast in place and united by an integral portion extending throughsaid opening.

3. In combination, a supporting member having recesses in its sides andan opening extending through the same and connecting the recessestogether, and a bearing member cast upon the supporting member andhaving portions lying within said recesses and connected together by anintegral piece extending through said opening.

4. In combination, an I-beam having an opening through its web, and abearing member cast upon the I-beam and having parts fitting between theflanges thereof and united by an integral part extending through saidopening.

5. An axle comprising a body member having an opening therethrough nearthe end thereof, a journal member abutting against said end of the bodymember and having an integral attaching device consisting of separatedblocks cast on opposite sides of the body member and united by anintegral part extending through said opening.

6. An axle comprising a body member in the form of an I-beam having anopening through the web near one end thereof, and a journal cast uponsaid end of the body member and having an integral attaching devicecomprising separate blocks lying between the flanges of the I-beam andunited by an integral connecting piece extending through said opening.

7. An axle comprising a body member having an opening therethrough nearone end thereof, a journal, and attaching means for the journalcomprising two separate parts lying on opposite sides of the axle andtied together by a connecting piece extending through said opening, saidjournal and attaching means being formed by casting them upon the bodymember.

8. An axle'comprising a body member in the form of an I-beam having anopening extending through the web near one end thereof, and a journalmember having integral attaching means in the form of a jaw fittingagainst the web and between the flanges of the I-beam and a connectingpiece for the two members of the jaw extending through said opening, thejournal with its attaching means being in the shape of a single castingformed on the end of the I-beam. V

9. An axle comprising a body member having recesses in its opposed sidesand an opening extending therethrough from one recess to the other, ajournal member abutting against the end of the body member, twoindependent arms integral with the journal member fitting into saidrecesses, and a connecting piece for said arms extending through saidopening, the body member and the journal member being united by castingthe journal member with its arms and their connecting piece upon thebody member.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

EDGAR C. LITCHFIELD.

Witnesses:

L. L. MCCARTY, E. F. OCONNOR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

